Speakers

1.Dr.N. Jayaraman,
Associate Professor,
IISc, Bangalore

Topic: ‘Laws of chemistry governing Biology’

Biodata:
Dr. N. Jayaraman

Associate Professor

Department of Organic Chemistry

Tel.: 091 80 2293-2578 (office); 2293-2406 (lab)

Fax: 091 80 2360-0529

E-mail: jayaraman@orgchem.iisc.ernet.in


Education:

Ph.D.: Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (1988 - 1994) (Supervisor: Professor S. Ranganathan)
Postdoctoral Fellow: University of Birmingham, England (1994 - 1997) and University of California, Los Angeles, USA (1997 - 1999) (Mentor: Professor J.F. Stoddart)


Major research projects of the group concern with (a) carbohydrate chemistry and (b) dendrimer chemistry.� Synthesis and studies are the main focus in these areas.� In relevance to the advancements in the above major research areas, the following specific themes have been undertaken in the group.



(i) Carbohydrates synthesis and structural studies

(ii) Studies of carbohydrate-protein interactions and the role of multivalency

(iii) Materials properties of carbohydrates

(iv) Synthesis of new dendrimers

(v) Chemical, biological and materials studies of dendrimers.

Representative Publications


Dendrimers as photochemical reaction media.� Photochemical behavior of unimolecular and bimolecular reactions in water-soluble dendrimers, Kaanumalle, L. S.; Ramesh, R.; Murthy Maddipatla, V. S. N.; Nithyanandhan, J.; Jayaraman, N.; Ramamurthy, V. J. Org. Chem. 2005, 70, 5062-5069.


Photoswitchable cluster glycosides as tools to probe carbohydrate-protein interactions: Synthesis and lectin binding studies of azobenzene containing multivalent sugar ligands, Srinivas, O.; Mitra, N.; Surolia, A.; Jayaraman, N. Glycobiology 2005, 15, 861-873.


Observation of chiral smectic phase (SmC*) in azobenzene linked bolaamphiphiles containing free sugars Abraham, S.; Paul, S.; Narayan, G.; Prasad, S. K.; Shankar Rao, D. S.; Jayaraman, N.; Das, S. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2005, 15, 1579-1584.


Synthesis and Langmuir studies of bivalent and monovalent a-D-mannopyranosides with Lectin Con A, Narasimha Murthy, B.; Sampath, S.; Jayaraman, N. Langmuir 2005, 21, 9591-9596.


Synthesis and reactivity profiles of phosphinated poly(alkyl aryl ether) dendrimers, Nithyanandhan, J.; Jayaraman, N. Tetrahedron 2005, 61, 11184-11191.


Synthesis and biological evaluation of mannose-6-phosphate coated multivalent dendritic cluster glycosides, Srinivas, O.; Radhika, S.; Bandaru, N. M.; Siva Kumar, N.; Jayaraman, N. Org. Biomol. Chem. 2005, 3, 4252-4257.


� Structure of poly(propyl ether imine) (PETIM) dendrimer from fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulation and by small angle X-ray scattering, Jana, C.; Jayamurugan, G.; Ganapathy, R.; Maiti, P. K.; Jayaraman, N.; Sood, A. K. J. Chem. Phys. 2006, In print.



� Efficient halogen-lithium exchange reactions to functionalize poly(alkyl aryl ether) dendrimers, Nithyanandhan, J.; Jayaraman, N. Tetrahedron 2006, 62, In print.

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2.Dr. Kshitish Acharya,
Faculty, IBAB, Bangalore.

Topic: ‘Candidate biomarker identification using transcriptomic data’

Biodata:

Dr. KSHITISH ACHARYA

IBAB-Shodhaka joint research work wins the best poster award (shared by 3 posters) at Bangalore Bio 2009!

He has more than one specific research interest and enjoys the flexibility in technical approaches. The variety across his current research interests illustrates the same.

Publications:

1. Kshitish K. Acharya, Chhabi K. Govind, Amy N. Shore, Mark H. Stoler, Prabhakara P. Reddi (2006) cis-Requirement for the Maintenance of Round Spermatid-Specific Dev Biol. Jul 15;295(2):781-90.

2. Kshitish Acharya K. (2006) The biotech-bioinfo interface in the context of education and growth of the biotechnology industry in India today. Biovistas 1(1): 7-13. Click here to access the full article.

3. Sandhu, K S and Acharya, K, ExPrimer: To design primers from exon-exon junctions
Bioinformatics, 21: 2091 (2005)

4. Sreekumar A, Acharya K K, Lalitha H S, India S S, and Seshagiri P B
Germ cell-specific localization of immunoreactive riboflavin carrier protein in the male golden hamster: Appearance during spermatogenesis and role in sperm function. Reproduction - accepted for publication (2004)

5. Reddi P P, Shore A, Shapiro J A, Anderson A, Stoler M H and Acharya K K and Herr J C Spermatid-specific promoter of the SP-10 gene functions as an insulator in somatic cells. Developmental Biology 262: 173-182 (2003)

6. Reddi, P P, Shore A, Acharya K K and Herr J C
Transcriptional regulation of spermiogenesis: Insights from the study of SP-10 gene, which codes for an acrosomal protein. Journal of Reproductive Immunology, 53:25-36 (2002)

7. Seshagiri P B, Acharya, K K, Jayaprakash, D, Satish, K S and Shetty, G
Ovarian hyperstimulation in bonnet monkeys using gonadotrophins. In: Follicular Growth, Ovulation and Fertilization: Molecular and Clinical Basis. A. Kumar and A.K. Mukhopadhyay (Eds.). Narosa Publishing House. New Delhi (2002)

8.Acharya K K, Roy A and Amitabh K
Relative role of olfactory cues and certain non-olfactory factors in foraging of fruit-eating bats. Behavioural Processes 44(1): 59-64 (1998)

9. Acharya K K and Dominic C J
Duration of the luteotrophic memory of the stud male odours formed in female mouse.
J. Exp. Zool. 279: 626-632 (1997)

10. Acharya K K and Dominic C J
Male-induced post-implantation pregnancy failure in the laboratory mouse: A re-investigation. J. Reprod. Biol. Comp. Endocrinol. 6: 69-75 (1994)

11. Acharya KK and Dominic C J
Male-induced acceleration of sexual maturation in female mice: Absence in the Parkes (P) strain. Indian
J. Exp. Biol. 32: 906-907(1994)

Experience (15 years of research, including Ph.D.):

Consultancy/research collaborations: Has been a consultant/subject matter expert (SME) to a few biotech companies, including the /Wipro/Health Sciences (in the area of microarray data analysis). He is currently working in collaboration with a/ leading research group at an American University/. Dr. Acharya is also playing a pivotal role, an adviser, in a special research enhancement program for medical researchers at a research center; he has designed a unique program for training in molecular biology methods for clinical research.

General experience and domain expertise:
Teaching: 4 years of teaching in

molecular biology

bioinformatics and

some of the general professional skills.

He has also been invited for several lectures on various topics in the above-mentioned areas.

Organization and management:

The industrial exposure as the head of the research and production unit of a biotech company has been a good primer to his skills in these areas.

Dr. Kshitish has organized several short term programs, including custom-made corporate courses, at IBAB.

He has also conceived and initiated a novel 6-12 months program in the laboratory bio-techniques, to cater to the needs of Indian biotech-industry and

has been the convener of this program since the beginning

Research areas: Molecular biology, bio-techniques and bioinformatics

Overall experience:

Academic, India: About 17 years of research; teaching in IBAB for 4 years.

Academic, USA: 3.5 years of patent-oriented research (molecular biology).

Industry, India: An year as head of the research and production unit in a growing Indian Biotechnology company.

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3.Dr. Gaiti Hasan,
Scientist,
NCBS, Bangalore.
gaiti@ncbs.res.in

Topic: ‘InsP3 Signaling in cellular and systemic
Physiology.’

Research

1. Compensation of Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor function by altering Sarco- endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase activity in the Drosophila flight circuit
Santanu Banerjee, Rohit Joshi, Gayatri Venkiteswaran
Normal flight in Drosophila InsP3R activity is required in aminergic interneurons during pupal development for. By altering intracellular Ca2+ levels through genetic means, we have shown that signaling through the InsP3R is required at multiple steps for generating the neural circuit required in air-puff stimulated Drosophila flight. Decreased Ca2+ release in aminergic neurons during development of the flight circuit can be compensated by reducing Ca2+ uptake from the cytosol to intracellular stores. However, this mode of increasing intracellular Ca2+ is insufficient for maintenance of flight patterns over time periods necessary for normal flight. Our study suggests that processes such as maintenance of wing posture and formation of the flight circuit require InsP3 receptor function at a slow time scale and can thus be modulated by altering levels of cytosolic Ca2+ and InsP3. In contrast maintenance of flight patterns probably requires fast modulation of Ca2+ levels, where the intrinsic properties of the InsP3R play a pivotal role.

2. InsP3R function in Drosophila is downstream of Gq and PLCβ
Santanu Banerjee and Neha Agrawal
InsP3 in vertebrates is generated in two cellular contexts, either by the activation of PLCγ or PLCβ. Interestingly, in Drosophila none of the itpr mutant phenotypes were enhanced by reducing PLCγ activity suggesting that this arm of the InsP3 pathway maybe non-functional in invertebrates. From genetic interaction studies with newly generated mutants for Gq and existing mutants for PLCβ (PLCβ21c alleles) we propose that activation of the InsP3R is primarily through Gqα and PLCβ in Drosophila. All itpr mutant phenotypes, except for the maintenance of flight patterns, are enhanced in dgq; itpr double mutant and further enhanced in itpr, dgq and plcβ21C triple mutants.

3. Ectopic expression of a Drosophila InsP3R channel mutant has dominant-negative effects in vivo
Sonal Srikanth and Santanu Banerjee
The Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3) receptor is a tetrameric intracellular calcium channel. It is an integral component of the InsP3 signaling pathway in multicellular organisms, where it regulates cellular calcium dynamics in many different contexts. In order to understand how the primary structure of the InsP3R affects its functional properties, the kinetics of Ca2+-release in vitro from single point mutants of the Drosophila InsP3R have been determined earlier. Among these, the Ka901 mutant in the putative selectivity-filter of the pore is of particular interest. It is non-functional in the homomeric form whereas it forms functional channels (with altered channel properties) when co-expressed with wild-type channels. We now show that due to its changed functional properties the Ka901 mutant protein has dominant negative effects in vivo. Cells expressing Ka901:WT channels exhibit much higher levels of cytosolic Ca2+ upon stimulation as compared with cells over-expressing just the wild-type DmInsP3R, thus supporting our in vitro observations that increased Ca2+ release is a property of heteromeric Ka901:WT channels. Furthermore, ectopic expression of the Ka901 mutant channel in aminergic cells of Drosophila alters electrophysiological properties of a flight circuit and results in defective flight behavior.




Selected Recent Publications

1. Agrawal, N., Venkiteswaran, G., Sadaf, S., Padmanabhan, N., Banerjee, S and Hasan, G. (2010). Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor and dSTIM function in Drosophila insulin producing neurons regulates systemic intracellular calcium homeostasis and flight. J. Neurosci, 30, 1301-1313.

2.Venkiteswaran, G and Hasan, G. (2009). Intracellular calcium signalling and store-operated Ca2+ entry are required in Drosophila neurons for flight (2009). PNAS, USA 106, 10326-10331. Also see http://www.f1000biology.com/article/id/1161154/evaluation http://www.nature.com/nindia/2009/090616/full/nindia.2009.154.html

3. Agarwal, N., Padmanabhan, N. and Hasan G. (2009) Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor function in Drosophila insulin producing cells. Plos One 4(8): e6652.

4. Kain P., Chakraborty T. S., Sundaram S., Siddiqi O. Rodrigues V. and Hasan G.(2008). Reduced Odor Responses from Antennal Neurons of Gqα,Phospholipase Cβ, and rdgA Mutants in Drosophila Support a Role for a Phospholipid Intermediate in Insect Olfactory Transduction. J. Neurosci, 28, 4745-4755. Also see http://f1000biology.com/article/id/1108139/evaluation

5. Banerjee, S., Joshi, R., Venkiteswaran, G., Agrawal, N., Srikanth, S., Alam, F. and Hasan, G (2006). Compensation of Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor function by altering Sarco-endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase activity in the Drosophila flight circuit . J. Neurosci, 26, 8278-8288.

6. Banerjee S. and Hasan G. (2005). The InsP3 receptor: its role in neuronal physiology and neurodegeneration. Bioessays, 27,1035-1047.

7. Banerjee, S., Lee, J., Venkatesh, K., Wu, C-F. and Hasan, G. (2004). Loss of flight and associated neuronal rhythmicity in inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor mutants of Drosophila. Journal of Neuroscience, 24, 7869-7878 .

8. Srikanth, S., Wang, Z., Tu, H., Nair, S,, Mathew, M.K., Hasan, G. and Ilya Bezprozvanny, I. (2004). Functional properties of Drosophila melanogaster inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor mutants . Biophysics Journal, 86, 3634-3646.

9. Srikanth, S and Hasan, G. (2004). Structure and function of Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate Receptors . Current Science, 86, 1513-1523.

10.Joshi, R., Venkatesh, K. Srinivas, R., Nair, S. and Hasan, G. (2004). Genetic dissection of ltpr gene function reveals a vital requirement in aminergic cells of Drosophila larvae , Genetics, 166, 225-236.